Pillow-sham holder



(No Model.)

F. KARE.

PILLOW SHAM HOLDER.

No. 476,882. Patented June 14. 189 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS KARE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PILLOW-SHAM HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 476,882, dated June 14, 1892.

Application filed December 2, 1890. serial No. 873,319 (No model.)

To a, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS KARR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usef ul Improvements in Pillow-Sham Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invent-ion relates to improvements in pillow-sham holders, which have heretofore been provided with catch devices for main- I Furthermore, in most of the prior forms of pillow-sham holders no special provision is; made for attaching the sham to the holding-{ frame other than those which may suggest: themselves to the ingenuity of the user, while in some a cord or tape is provided, eX- tending between the two side pieces of the holder, which device is objectionable, because; of the unequal support it aifords the shams' and the consequent sagging thereof at the center. Z

The prime object of this invention is to have the catch device or retaining-spring for the holder formed integrally with the sham r holder frame, whereby the number of parts, of the holder is reduced to the minimum and the economy, effectiveness, and durability thereof is promoted to the maximum degree.-

Another object is to have the retaining device of such a character that while it will ef fectually lock the holder in its elevated posi-'{ tion the position of the holder may be readily and quickly changed without manual or other manipulation of the retaining device, whereby it is only necessary to grasp the holder and swing it up or down, the retaining device, catching and releasing automatically, thus enabling the most ignorant person to operate the sham-holder without danger or in jury thereto.

A further object is to provide novel means for attaching the shams to the holder whereby the shams will be supported equally through out their length and at all times, notwith' standing the horizontal or vertical adjustment of the holder.

These objects are attained by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective View of a bed, showing a sham-l1older applied thereto embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a perspec tive view of the sham-holder detached and in an elevated position; Fig. 3, a front elevation of the same in a lowered position; Fig. 4, an enlarged side elevation of one end of the holder and the bracket supporting the same; Fig. 5, a front elevation thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figu res of the drawings.

The holder is extensible, so that it may be readily and instantly adjusted to any width of bed, and the frame thereof is composed of two sections, formed wholly of bent wire, alike in all material respects, and so connected with each other as to be inseparable, but at the same time capable of independent movementor adjustment relative to each other. Each section of the frameis of a general rectangular form having two side bars A A and B B and two end bars C C and D D, and each is composed of a single piece of wire bent into the desired form, as will now be explained. Each section of the frame at the corners thereof, formed by the conj unetion of the end bars C and C with the side bars, is bent or formed into eyes E and E, through which freely work the side bars of the respective frames, the bars of one frame working through the eyes of the other, so that the two sets of eyes subserve the double purpose of binding or uniting the frames together, and of guiding them in their longitudinal movement upon each other. This construction gives to the frame an adj ustmeut which permits its attachment to beds varying in width from the length of one section of the frame to nearly the length of both frames combined without substantially reducing the rigidityof the frame as a whole or disconnecting the sections thereof from each other. The ends of the wire forming each section terminate at the same corner thereof, one end ICO constituting a pivot for the frame by entering the bracket F, as shown at G in Fig. 4, the bracket being secured to the head of the bed in anysuitable manner, and constituting with the twin bracket at the opposite side of the bed the support for the holderas a treme end I of the section, the wire being:

bent into a coil J between the end bar and the end I, so as to convert the latter into a spring. This spring is utilized as a retaining device for maintaining the holder in an elevated position by working upon a cam-surface formed upon the end of the bracket either upon the upper edges K thereof, as illustrated in the drawings, or, if preferred, upon the inner face thereof, the location of the cams being immaterial, so long as it is engaged by the spring-retaining device. It will be observed that this retaining device, while it serves to effectually hold the frame in its elevated position, is not such a look as requires manual manipulation in order to release it, for it is only necessary to seize hold of the frame and swing it either up or down upon its pivots, when the tension of the retainingspring will be overcome, and it will ride over the cam either in engaging or releasing into proper position without any manual manipulation whatever. It will also be observed that by the construction herein shown and described this retaining device is formed of the same wire which composes the frame or body of the holder and engages the bracket by which the holder is supported, thereby dispensing with the employment of any extra or separate parts for accomplishing the desired object, and thus reducing the cost of construction to the minimum and at the same time rendering the operation of the device so simple that any person, however ignorant, may manipulate it without injury thereto, besides which, by avoiding the necessity for releasing these retaining devices by hand,Iam enabled to employ a retaining device at each side of the bed with no moreinconvenience or danger than if no such device were employed.

Another important feature of my invention is the means provided for attaching thesham to the holder, which consists of tapes M N or equivalent flexible material wound spirally about the bars B and B, respectively, of the two sections, the ends of the tapes beingse-- cured thereto at any point in the same manner as if the tape was simply stretched from side to side of the frame; but this important difference exists between the two modes of securing the tape to the frame that with it spirally wound, as herein described, the sham is supported equally throughout its length and will not sag, as would be the case if the tape was simply stretched between the ends of the frame.

In conclusion I may state that while the bracket F is shown as provided with one cam K, which alone is necessary, for gravity will hold the frame when down upon the pillows, still if a locking device is desired when the holder is in a lowered position another cam maybe provided on the under side of the bracket. The manner of using my pillowsham holder is clearly illustrated in Fig. 1, in which the upper edge of the sham, when in position covering the pillows, is attached to the side bars B and B of the holder, which constitute the pivots thereof, so that when the holder is swung up andlocked in an elevated position the lower free end of the sham will fold down over and conceal the holder from view.

A pillow-sham holderconstructed in accordance with my invention possesses numerous advantages over the prior forms of holders,

chief among which is the cheapness and durability thereof and the extreme simplicity of its construction, it being composed entirely of two parts aside from the supporting-brackets, the minimum possible in an extensible pillow-sham holder.

On March 3,1890, I filed an application for Letters Patent for an improvement in pillowsham holders embodying but not claiming the present invention, which application bears Serial No. 342,330, and was patented January 20, 1891, No. 444,981.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

side bars A A and B and B, the end bars 0,

O, D, and D, the guide-eyesE and E, through which the side bars work, the loop H, the

spring ends I, constituting the retaining de-.

vices, and the coils J, of the brackets, in,

which are respectivelyone end of each section and which arev provided with cams engaged by the spring ends I, substantially as described.

FR ANCIS KARR.

Witnesses:

W. R. OMOHUNDRO, R. C. OMOHUNDRO. 

